US officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged her with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities in an escalating dispute between US President Donald Trump’s administration and local officials over immigration enforcement.
In a criminal complaint, the US Justice Department said Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, hindered the immigration agents who showed up to arrest the man without a judicial warrant outside her courtroom on April 18, and that she tried to help him evade arrest by allowing him to exit through a jury door.
Agents arrested the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, outside the courthouse after he left with his lawyer.
Dugan appeared briefly at a federal court in Milwaukee to face charges of obstructing a government proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, records show. She was released and is scheduled to enter a plea on May 15. A crowd formed outside the courthouse, chanting: “Free the judge now.”
Dugan left the courthouse through a side door without comment.
“Judge Dugan will defend herself vigorously and looks forward to being exonerated,” a publicity firm said on her behalf.
Trump, a Republican, launched a sweeping immigration crackdown after taking office in January, and the Justice Department has directed federal prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against local officials who interfere with the effort. Such resistance was widespread during Trump’s first 2017-2021 term in office.
“No one, least of all a judge, should obstruct law enforcement operations,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
The Trump administration has been locked in an escalating confrontation with federal judges, as several have issued rulings that limit its aggressive use of presidential power in immigration and other matters. State courts have played a less significant role in that dispute.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said on social media that agents had arrested Dugan for interfering with the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, whom he described as an “illegal alien.” He later deleted that post, made before the case against Dugan was unsealed in federal court in a possible violation of secrecy rules.
US Senator Dick Durbin, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Trump administration “continues to test the limits of our Constitution,” and that when immigration officials “interfere” with the criminal justice system it prevents witnesses and victims from coming forward.
“How does arresting a sitting judge make America any safer?” Durbin said in his statement.
